External Audit Arrangements and Plan

This section provides information about the Council's external audit arrangements.

The audit of the Council's accounts has been completed by the external auditors, BDO LLP.

This audit plan covers the work which BDO LLP intended to carry out to provide an audit opinion on:

• whether the financial statements of Colchester Borough Council give a true and fair view of the financial position at the year-end;
• the income and expenditure within that year;
• a statutory conclusion on the Council's arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

The arrangements for the audit of the 2018/19 accounts were presented to the Council's Governance and Audit Committee in March 2019.

BDO LLP have reported their findings in their 'Annual Audit Letter' to this Panel following the conclusion of the audit work. The results of the audit are shown on the Annual Audit Letter pages.

Notice of appointment of auditor from 2018/19

Under Section 8(2) of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, the Council must publish a notice relating to the appointment of its local auditor.

For audits of accounts from 1 April 2018, Public Sector Audit Appointments Limited (PSAA) is responsible for appointing an auditor to principal local government and police bodies that have chosen to opt into its national auditor appointment arrangements. Colchester Borough Council opted into this arrangement.

On 14 December 2017, the PSAA board approved the appointment of BDO LLP to audit the accounts of Colchester Borough Council for a period of five years, covering the accounts from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2023.

This appointment is made under Regulation 13 of the Local Audit (Appointing Person) Regulations 2015.